A Los Angeles-based nonprofit opened an early childhood center specifically for children whose families are seeking asylum in the United States. This center is one of the only places available where migrant children can play and learn for free.

Over the next three years, San Diego’s government and research agencies, with the help of leading technology companies, aim to develop ground-breaking uses for commercial drones and best practices that the rest of the country can benefit from.

Ultimately, the city hopes to push the limits of commercial drones in real-world environments across five specific categories, as identified in the winning application: international commerce and border security; medical delivery; smart city and autonomous vehicle interoperability; package delivery; and public safety. Also significant, the application put forth the notion that San Diego, with help from Qualcomm, Intel and AT&T, will determine how cellular networks can be used to track, analyze and operate drones beyond a pilot’s line of sight.

Technically, city partners can begin testing outdoors as soon as August, though Homeland Security Coordinator Tiffany Vinson, who is heading up the effort, doesn’t anticipate those types of tests to begin until early next year.

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“We’re taking a crawl, walk, run approach,” she said. “We’ll do indoor testing (at Coleman Unverisity’s drone testing center) first to make sure the equipment is safe and the noise isn’t too impactful to residents.”

The Federal Aviation Administration hosted a kick-off meeting Thursday, informing San Diego and the other nine participating regions that they have two weeks to put together an economic baseline report that shows how their proposed drone missions will result in cost savings. Vinson will prepare the report and work with an assigned FAA program manager on a weekly basis. She’ll also serve as a point person to connect with San Diego’s broader team, which includes 20 private and public sector participants.

While the FAA isn’t funding the program, San Diego won’t incur any out-of-pocket expenses. Rather the partner companies involved in the program have committed to supplying their own resources to fund the projects.

A world of unknowns remain, with one of the bigger questions surrounding how the city’s partners, some of which are industry rivals, can put competitive differences aside to get their proposed drone programs off the ground.

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“We’re looking to better understand how the companies are going to work together, because a lot of these ... companies ... have never worked together,” Vinson said.

Here’s a snapshot of what the city wants to do with its drone program:

International Commerce & Border Security

Big idea: Use drones to manage cross-border air traffic and commercial deliveries after dark.

Participants: AT&T, Qualcomm and GE

From the application: “San Diego will provide to the FAA valuable insights into how Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) and other technologies can support future international UAS operations.”

Medical Delivery

Big idea: Expedite hospitals’ medical specimen testing process by using drones to carry blood samples to and from labs.

Participants: UCSD Health, Matternet and AirMap

From the application: “UCSD seeks to establish an autonomous drone delivery network for the transportation of patient blood and pathology specimens. The landing/takeoff sites and flight route would be fixed, protected and surveyed in advance of operations. After manually loading the system with necessary items, takeoff, navigation and landing are fully autonomous. The flights will be monitored in real time at a mission control center, giving operators the ability to intercede in case of abnormal conditions.”

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Smart City & Autonomous Vehicle Interoperability

Big Idea: Ensuring that drones can communicate with intelligent infrastructure for practical purposes, such as finding open parking spots, identifying when a park needs maintenance or spotting a road that needs to be repaved.

Participants: GE, City of Chula Vista

From the application: “San Diego, in partnership with GE, is deploying the largest network of smart city infrastructure in the nation, known as City IQ. This terrestrial-based asset utilizes sensors that capture actionable data for pedestrian/traffic analysis, parking availability, detection of gunshots, and more. San Diego seeks to test the integration of data feeds from UAS and intelligent infrastructure into a single source to enhance city services.”

Package Delivery

Big Idea: Food delivery by drone.

Participants: Uber

From the application: “To ensure safe operations over people, aerodynamics including stability, vibration, heading, weather, RPM and more will be monitored throughout flight with emergency procedures in place in the event of degraded aircraft reliability.”

Public Safety

Big Idea: Dispatch drones to fires, crime scenes and major accidents to gauge if additional help is needed.

Participants: AT&T, Cape

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From the application: “The UAS’s ability to arrive before a vehicle and provide actionable information from the scene, which should result in real life-saving benefits to the public.”

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